Three complainants have filed a petition before the Commission on Elections in Manila seeking the cancellation of the certificate of candidacy (COC) of Bacolod mayoral aspirant Alfredo Abelardo “Albee” Benitez.
Petitioners Hector Yula, Teodoro Abao and Jonah Tornea Abao in their petition dated October 25 asked the COMELEC to cancel the COC of Benitez “on the ground of material misrepresentation“ of his residence.
They also claimed he failed to comply with the one-year residency requirement.
Benitez claimed he had established residence at Mountain View Subdivision in Barangayay Mandalagan, Bacolod City, when he is in fact a resident of Victorias City, they said.
The Comelec First Division has set the preliminary conference for the petition on November 24.
Benitez on Thursday, November 18, said he is confident the petition against him will be dismissed as it is similar to the ones the same petitioners filed against him before the Bacolod Election Registration Board and the Municipal Trial Court in Cities (MTCC) questioning his residency, which were both dismissed.
The petitioners are from Barangay Mandalagan and are allies of Grupo Progreso headed by Bacolod Mayor Evelio Leonardia.
Bacolod MTCC Branch 4 Judge Francisco Pando on October 1 dismissed their petition seeking to exclude Benitez from the list of registered voters of Precinct No. 0629A in Barangay Madalagan, Bacolod City.
The petitioners are residents of Barangay Mandalagan but they do not live inside Mountain View Subdivision. For this reason, and as correctly pointed out by Benitez, they are not in the position to notice his presence or absence in his residence, the judge said.
The ERB on July 28 also approved the application of Benitez to vote in Bacolod City.
The ERB ruled that Benitez met the residency requirement of six months on the day of election.
Even if the period of residence of Benitez in Mountain View be reckoned from the time of his application for transfer of registration record on April 22, 2021 until the eve of election day on May 9, 2022, Benitez would still be a one year and 11 days resident of Barangay Mandalagan, the ERB had ruled.*